A poem by Alan Seeger (1888-1916)
Not that I always struck the proper mean
Of what mankind must give for what they gain,
But, when I think of those whom dull routine
And the pursuit of cheerless toil enchain,
Who from their desk-chairs seeing a summer cloud
Race through blue heaven on its joyful course
Sigh sometimes for a life less cramped and bowed,
I think I might have done a great deal worse;
For I have ever gone untied and free,
The stars and my high thoughts for company;
Wet with the salt-spray and the mountain showers,
I have had the sense of space and amplitude,
And love in many places, silver-shoed,
Has come and scattered all my path with flowers.
A few random poems:
- Hours Continuing Long. by Walt Whitman
- In Darkness poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Perfect High by Shel Silverstein
- Time And The Garden by Yvor Winters
- The Princess: A Medley: Home they Brought her Warrior Dead poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Алексей Жемчужников – Уже давно иду я, утомленный
- Николай Языков – Романс (Красой небесною прекрасна)
- As if by Sara Herlihy
- Ballad on Mr. Heron’s Election—No. 2 by Robert Burns
- On His Eightieth Birthday by Walter Savage Landor
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Finale. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- The Mob
- Sow by Sylvia Plath
- Unsaid by Victoria Bukofske
- Sing of the Banner at Day-Break. by Walt Whitman
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Recollection
- Practising The Anthem
- Practising Anthem
- Peace
- On Australian Hills
- Mirage
- Memoriam
- Mates
- Lord Nevils Advice
- Lord Nevil039s Advice
- Looking In The Fire
- Looking Fire
- Learn
- Last Battle Cid
- Influence
- Individuality
- In Memoriam
- Honour
- Home Sick
- Holy Communion
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works

Alan Seeger (1888-1916) was an American war poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme, serving in the French Foreign Legion. Seeger was the brother of Charles Seeger, a noted American pacifist and musicologist and the uncle of folk musician, Pete Seeger.